Heroes continues to impress

I HAVE to admit the current series of Heroes – or Hiro’s as it should be called (thank you egrommet) – has me confused.

Given the wave of criticism and hatred flowing across the blogosphere about series two from America, I feared the worst.

Not enough action, too slow, not enough Sylar, yada yada yada ….

When the series started on BBC2, I was watching it through my fingers, wondering just what type of mess would present itself.

But …. I think it is really good.

I don’t know what people were expecting, but from the start, it has been intriguing and interesting.

Instead of opting for more of the same, the producers and writers have thrown the main characters into completely different set ups, a brave move that I think has worked.

Now, in true multi-layered style, Peter’s memory loss, Hiro’s time travelling, the revenge killings, Parkman’s father and HRG’s quest to bring down the company have led to the main story arc – the mysterious virus.

The new characters have all added further shades of grey to this conflicted word, especially Adam / Takezo Kensei, the indestructible man who doesn’t age, and the always excellent Stephen Tobolowsky as Bob, the company’s main man.

All in all I think it easily matches its predecessor, with its admittedly more thoughtful and measured approach giving me a sense that something wicked this way comes but I’m not sure what.

For internet fanboys, I’m sure they wanted a superhero battle in every episode, but series one didn’t work like that so why should this? After all, given the tortuous labyrinth of Lost, Heroes is a wide eyed adrenaline rush of a thrill ride!

Fair enough, but I still think the unexplained elements of the story – like the tattoo / insignia which people have / think / about / paint – give hope there is an overarching reason for all this stuff – a grand conspiracy.

Also, I’d say the structure of the disparate heroes is more realistic – why should they form a super team?

Finally, I am enjoying Sylar’s powerlessness – it is great to see him struggle to survive, rather than being an all powerful superbeing. Plus, when he does get his powers back – look out!

Given how good the first series was, I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I think the problems with S2 lies at the door of the S1 finale. Over the 23 episodes there was the impression the story was going somewhere, that there was a grand conspiracy. The first few episodes of S2 made it clear that this isn’t the case, stuffs going on, that’s it – none of the characters are fighting together against one thing and the ‘company’ seems to be run aimlessly. Add to that Hiro, the character that carried the slow episodes, is still pissing about in 13th Century Japan, Sylar’s only power is giving evil looks and the slow moving story: the brother and sister have only just made it over the border and S2 feels aimless. Considering we are at the half-way mark I can’t see it picking up in time.